Swabs having absorbent cotton tips are often used in cleaning interior components of machinery, electronic devices and the like through narrow passages in the machinery or housing. For example, cotton swabs soaked in a cleaning fluid are often used to clean the tape sensing heads of a magnetic tape player.
The access to many interior components of electronic or mechanical devices is often through narrow passages of varying length, angles or depth. Many of these narrow passages are longer than the length of the standard size cotton swab. In such case, it is necessary to use an oversized swab, if available, having a longer rod on which the absorbent tip is attached in order to reach the interior surface to be cleaned.
It is cumbersome and generally inconvenient to include cotton swabs of varying length in a tool kit, and often, the oversized cotton swabs have an elongate rod that is too flexible for efficient use in a particular cleaning job desired to be performed. From an expense standpoint, it is inefficient to use an oversized swab to perform a job that a standard size swab could perform equally as well. Thus, it is undesirable to have only oversized swabs in a tool kit.
A need has arisen for a tool swab holder that enables a regular size cotton swab to be used in cleaning jobs that would otherwise require an oversized swab and for use in cleaning operations in which an oversized swab is not suitable. A further need has arisen for a tool swab holder that enables the user to perform delicate cleaning or swabbing more quickly, safely, easily and reliably than could otherwise be performed. For example, the tool of the present invention provides a telescoping feature whereby the length from a handle of the tool to the absorbent swab tip may be varied as desired. Its construction enables commercially available swabs of various diameter or length to be used with one tool.